Third year law student, Sumant Pathak, who will be graduating in May 2014 will be working with Rosenberg Klein & Lee in Ellicott City, Maryland. "I will start working for Rosenberg Klein & Lee towards the end of August," said Pathak. "The firm has been kind enough to grant me a couple of weeks of much-needed vacation prior to the start of work. I will utilize said much-needed vacation to travel to India and Europe."

Pathak will be a patent associate with the firm and his primary job will involve patent prosecution before the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) in the electrical engineering and computer systems area. He will also have some litigation related responsibilities, such as patent infringement searches and opinions.

Pathak says he is excited about this opportunity. He states that he is going to enjoy “working in a firm that will allow me to develop and hone my patent prosecution and litigation skills.” He remarked, “the firm has an excellent training program for beginning associates. Further, I am very excited to be representing well respected, big names in the technology business.”

He is also looking forward to life on the east coast. According to Pathak, “I was interested in the Maryland/DC/Virginia area because of the location of the USPTO and the plethora of intellectual property firms and patent-work in the area. I just contacted a lot of firms and inquired of their particular needs to see whether the firm matched my desires and skill-set.”

Pathak utilized various services within the law school. He stated, “The Career Services Office and the Externship Office were very helpful in sharpening my resume and conducting mock interviews so that I could be a confident and decisive interviewee. As a result of being an Intellectual Property Fellow and having passed the Patent Bar, I gained valuable experience as a Patent Agent with the school's USPTO Patent Clinic Program and the San Diego IP Law Group.”

Professor Steven Semeraro worked with Pathak as well. According to Prof. Semeraro, "Sumant displayed a drive to achieve his goals from the first day of law school. He never lost focus on the big picture, gathering experience working on patent matters both in the school's clinic (for two semesters) and for an outside firm."

When asked what job search strategies worked best, Pathak said, “identify the geographic area where the field of law that you desire to practice has a prominent presence. Proactively contact firms and companies, and check to see whether your skill-set and desires are a good fit with what the entity has to offer.”

According to its website, the firm has been ranked in the past by IP Today as one of the top 50 patent firms in the United States.